Combined switchboard and rheostat for controlling the charging of electric storage batteries.



- w.- c. CARR COMBINED $W'ITCHBOARD AND RHEOSTATFOR CONTROLLING THECHARGING 0F ELECTRIC STORAGE BATTERIES, Y 1,248,074.

APPLICATION FILED .IIINEJZ. I9I2- Patented Nov. 27, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESS 3 Arron/vs) w. c. CARR. COMBINED SWITCHBOARD AND RHEOSTAT FORCONTROLLING THE CHARGING OF ELECTRIC STORAGE BATTERIES. APPLICATIONFILED JUNE 12, I912- 1,248,074.- Patented Nov. 27, 19 17. -z sutns-snsn2.

Q "a a L g "'3 9 r N 6 a J p) n .1

7 Q t R. o o Igq w H) Q 3 H [1,, h M

I N z- WUUIMQL INVL'IYTOR W/TIYEJJEJ AT-Tammy"- UNITED STATES PATENToEEIoE.

WILLIAM C. CARE, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

COMBINED SWITCI-IBOARD AND RHEOSTA'I FOR CONTROLLING THE CHARGING OFELECTRIC STGRAGE BATTERIES.

Application filed June 12, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVHJLIAM C. CARR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Combined Switchboardsand Rheostats for Controlling the Charging of Electric StorageBatteries, of Which the following is a specification,

This invention relates to improvements in a combined switchboard andrheostat for controlling the charging of electric storage batteries.

The primary objects of the invention are to automatically govern thecharging ofelectric storage batteries, to prevent excessive voltageduring the charging of storage batteries by providing means toautomatically reduce or step down the volta e, and to automaticallybreak the circuit to prevent overcharging when the storage battery ischarged to its desired capacity.

The invention also relates to certain details of construction which willbe hereinafter described and claimed, reference be ing had to theaccompanying drawings in which preferred embodiment of the machine orapparatus is illustrated.

Figure 1, represents a part diagrammatic and part plan view of thecombined switchboard and rheostat, the current connections being shownin heavy lines and the voltage connections in light lines.

Fig. 2, is a central vertical section through the master contact-breakeron the line rt -a, Fig. 1, looking in one direction.

Fig. 3, is a central vertical section through the master contact-breakerlooking in the opposite direction to Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section through one of the shunt coil circuitbreakers on line b?) of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5, is a side elevation of one of the shunt coil circuit breakersfor cutting out one of the coil windings of the rheostat.

In referring to the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in theaccompanying drawings in detail like numerals designate like parts.

The switchboard proper is preferably a fiat, fairly thick sheet 1, ofasbestos board or other suitable material, the automatic controllingdevices, voltmeter, amperemeter, and switch being usually placed on thefront face of the board 1, with the wiring on the Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented Nov. 27, 1917'.

Serial No. 703,104.

back face thereof, the rheostat is also usually placed on or attached tothe back face.

However, for the purpose of clearly and comprehensively illustrating themanner of connectin and wiring the various elements and parts to eachother, they are all shown in Fig. 1, on the front face of the board 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, a voltmeter 2, is attached to one of the uppercorners of the board 1, and an amperemeter 3, to the opposite uppercorner.

These meters are preferably of the Well known adjustable type so thatthey can be regulated or set for any desired amperage and voltage.

The amperemeter is connected to a master contact breaker which isconstructed sub stantially as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and is arrangedto be automatically operated from the voltmeter to break the circuit.

The master contact breaker consists of a bracket or base 4:, which isfastened to the face of the board, 1, a shaft, 5, journaled in said baseso as to rock therein, a contact making and breaking arm 6, having itsinner end permanently attached to the shaft 5, as shown in Figs. 2 and3.

A spring device of angular form is attached to the board 1, below themaster contact breaker and has one of its ends bent outward and downwardand formed of a plurality of metal strips to constitute a brush 7, whichis adapted to contact with the under surface of the arm 6, when said armis in its contact making position.

Th opposite end of the spring is alsobent upon itself and is providedwith a block 8, of insulating material which is attached to the outerend thereof and is adapted to contact with and press against a similarblock 9, attached to the outer end of the arm 6, when said arm is incontact making position.

A manually operated handle 10, is pivoted to the frame of the bracket orbase 1, by a pivot pin 11, and the inner end of said arm is forked orbifurcated as shown in Fig. 1, and carries a roller 12, at its lowerextremity which is adapted to contact with a simi lar roller 13,journaled in an intermediate portion .of the arm 6.

Two coils, a service coil 14 and a shunt coil 15, are mounted onopposite sides of the bracket or base a, and two armatures 16 and 17 arepivoted to the frame and are arranged coil 15.

The inner ends of the armatures are bent inwardly at substantially rightangles and are adapted to engage and contact with trip pins 18 and 19,which projectlaterally and in opposite directions from the handle.

The master contact breaker is moved into contact making position by theoperator throwing the handle 10 downward which causes the roller 12, tocontact with and roll on tne roller 13, of the arm 6, moving said. armdownward into circuit making contact with the brush 7.

il hcn he handle 10, is in its lowered position and the arm '6, is inits circuit making position, the roller 1:2, is moved slightly past thecenter on the roller 13, and holds said arm in its decreased positionuntil tripoed and released by the vibration of one 'ie armatures, whichstrikes its complemental y trip pin and throws the handle upwardsufficiently 0 cause the roller 12, to roll. past the center and allowthe spring 20, attached to the arm (3, to pull said arm outward andbreak the electric circuit.

The air-matures 1G and 1? are normally held out of contact with theshunt coils by springs 21 and 22.

Besides the master contact breaker, one or more auxiliary contactbreakers are employed, and in the adaptation shown in the accompanyingdrawin s, two are utilizeo.

As these auxiliary contact breakers are oi identical construction, isthought that a description of one will sullice for all.

Referring to Figs. 1', l and 5, a rock shaft 23, is ournaled in a baseor bracket 24-, and a contact making and breaking arm 25, has its innerend fastened to said shaft 23.

A spring device similar to the spring device described with reference tothe master contact breaker, is attached to the board 1,

d has a brush 526, at one end adapted to contact with the arm 25, and aninsulating ii 1, W7 1' T 29.1. i mock at, at the opposite end adapted toCO1;- tact with a similar insulating block 28, on the end of the arm 25.

A single shunt coil 29, is mounted on the and governs the movebase orbracket A, mcnt of an armature 30 which is pivotally mounted i l thebase or bracket The inner end 31 of the armature i. bent at a rightangleand is adapted to contact with a trip pin 82, on a manually operatedhandle 33, when pulled down by the shunt coil.

The handle 83, is pivotally mounted in the bracket 94, being pivotedtherein by a pivot pin 3%, and is provided with a bifurcated inner endwhich carries a roller 35, adapted to roll on the surface of a roller86, journaled in the arm 25, as shown in Fig. 5.

l-i spring 87, is attached to the shaft 28, and normally mauitams thearm 25 in its circuit in kin position.

The armature 30, is also held in a nonconnected position with respect tothe shunt coil 29, by a spring 38.

A rheostat which in the embodiment shown, consists of three coilwindings, is connected. by vires to the contact breakers in such amanner, that the coil windings are successively cut out and finally whenthe storage battery is fully charged, t 1e electric ci cuitcorg iletelybroken by the master breaker.

i :rnig to l, the coil windings of the rheostat are respectivel 1indicated by the nume 'als t0 and 4:1.

first coil winding 39, is connected. by to one of the auxiliary contacthe second coil winding 40, by a to the other auxili ry contact the thirdcoil winding ll,

breaker a1 u by a wire ll, to the negative pole 'ge battery so, all ofthe coil winding. are also connected by a wire 16, to the co tactbreaker. two auxiliary contact breakers are to each other by a wire lT,which connected to the negative side are also connected to the voltmeterby a wire The master contact breaker, is likewise connected to theauxiliary contact breakers by a wire 50, and to the amperemeter by awire lhe auxiliary circuit breakers are also in circuit with thevoltmeter and the shunt coil of the 1naser contact breaker through thewire 50 connected to the wire 49 beyond the initial auxiliary contactbreakers by mechanical switches a. These switches are of any usual orpreferred type and ope ate to mechanically close when the auxiliarycircuit breaker opens, connecting the circuit around the circuitbreaker, and mechanically opens when the circuit breaker is closed tocomplete the circuit through such circuit breaker.

A wire extends from the voltmeter to the main line wire 53, and saidmain line wire is connected by wire 54, to the positive pole of astorage battery. A double pole switch 55 is attached to the board 1forming the usual control of the mains 53 and 57, the latter beingcontinued beyond the switch to the amperemeter.

The operation of this improved machine or apparatus is as follows Thehandles of the master cont-act breaker and the auxiliary contactbreakers, are moved downward by the operator, thereby throwing all ofthe contact making and breaking arms into contact making position.

A storage battery is now connected and the switch 55, is turned upwardinto contact to complete the electric circuit.

The electric current now flows into the storage battery, and when thevoltage reaches a certain predetermined point, the shunt coil of one ofthe auxiliary circuit breakers is energized from the voltmeter and pullsits armature down, causing the bent end of the armature to strikeagainst the trip pin of the handle of said auxiliary circuit breaker,turning said handle on its pivot sufliciently to release the contactmaking and breaking arm, thereby permitting the spring connected to saidarm to pull said arm upward into its contact breaking position andcutting out the coil winding 39, of the rheostat.

This automatically reduces the voltage, while the current still flows tothe storage battery through the two remaining coils of the rheostat.

The second coil winding 40, is automatically cut out in a like manner bythe other auxiliary contact breaker when the voltage again reaches thepredetermined point on the voltmeter.

The third coil winding L1, is automatically automatically operating eachof the contact breakers, and a voltmeter in circuit with and controllingall of said means.

2. In a machine of the class described, a rheostat composed of aplurality of resistance sections, a similar number of contact breakersin series circuit with the respective said sections, electro-magneticmeans for operating the contact breakers to break the contact and cutout the said sections, and a voltmeter having circuit control of all ofsaid electro-magnetic means.

WILLIAM C. CARR. Witnesses EDGAR L. KLEINDINST, Loom M. THEES,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for flve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patent: Washington, D. 0.

